Review by Ian Keogh

Jean Van Hamme’s two previous volumes looking at the ancestors of Largo Winch have been proficient without thrilling, with Van Hamme’s desire to slot his cast around historical events detracting from the primary characters. Danitza, 1965 is a very different proposition, in many ways smaller in scale, but offering greater rewards more in keeping with what Van Hamme wrote for Largo Winch.

It’s a dazzling reaffirmation of Van Hamme’s skills, where a viable caper plot prompted by resentment over an insult that might otherwise be extended into a separate story is just a part of what’s on offer. We’re also supplied with a tragically unrequited love, the sort of financial machinations that characterise Largo Winch, and as with the previous volumes, the date mentioned in the title is only a starting point. It means that along with seeing Nerio Winch for the first time, his Aunt Lisa, seen in Tom and Lisa, 1910 still lives as an elderly woman in luxurious surroundings.

Over the previous two volumes it’s been Philippe Berthet’s art that’s sparkled on disappointing stories, but given something better he really brings it to life via an assortment of characters, locations and action supplied fully detailed. It’s all very precisely drawn in Berthet’s attractive clear line style, and while much depends on conversation, at no point does this transmit as dull explanations under Berthet.

Anyone reading this as an adjunct to Largo Winch will be fully satisfied with the way backstory is filled in, yet this can also be read independently of that series, and indeed of the first two parts, as an extremely satisfying thriller. Yet it also leads smoothly into Largo Winch‘s first volume.